New Horizons: Chapter Forty-Five
The Continuance
By Annie
06-02-2002
Buffy pushed the door to the Magic Box open impatiently before trampling inside, waving her plastic bag and looking more than annoyed she then clambered down the steps to come stand by the table where Anya was sitting reading through some newly arrived books on how-to spells.
Currently she was reading one with a title that read how-to-make-a-mortal- crawl-without-causing-any-serious-damage-to-his-limbs. Which fit her perfectly, even though she was only reading it per chance she ever needed it, she didn't want Xander's limbs to get deformed, she needed the tux to fit just right once their 'actual wedding' took place, far, far, far, far, far, FAR off in the future.
She looked up, surprised, as Buffy came to stand before her, and she shut the cover of the book with a thud, smiling innocently.
"Hi, Buffy," she said, the smile dying at the sight of the look on her friend's face. "Is anything wrong?"
"Yeah," Buffy nodded, putting the bag of groceries down on the table. "We need to have a meeting, NOW. I can't believe that Spike made me forget about all the stuff going on in my life! No, wait.that's what he does." she added the last part with a sudden smile and Anya stared at the Slayer, if she hadn't known any better she could have sworn the woman looked. "What I realized when I went to the frigging STORE, of all the places in the world to run into that looser, Jonathan, I mean. Well, what I realized was that we still haven't found the stupid Trio a la Nerds and this vanishing act they've got going is seriously starting to get on my nerves!"
Buffy was talking fast, pacing back and forth and Anya's eyes followed her keenly as she listened to the Slayer's statements and nodded her agreement mostly to herself since Buffy seemed very into what she was declaring.
"SO, we need to have a meeting, Tara needs to perform some kind of a searching spell or location spell or whatever the hell you call them and then we'll all just."
"Ah," Anya now interrupted, a little hesitantly and Buffy turned to her. "Well, I don't mean to cut your plan short but.Tara and Willow are still both at school, you know. And Xander is still working for at least an hour.It's Thursday," she finished and Buffy's shoulders slumped a little as she sighed.
"Of course it is," she mumbled, shaking her head.
"Do you have anything of theirs?" Anya now asked, getting off the chair she was on and walking up to the register.
"Of Xander's or Willow's?" Buffy asked, slightly confused and Anya smiled, shaking her head.
"No, of one of the.nerds'," she answered and Buffy raised her eyebrows a little, shaking her head.
"Why?" she asked walking over to Anya who now was behind the counter and kneeling, digging through a cabinet.
"Well," she answered, "we need something of theirs to perform this spell," she explained, bringing out a big, heavy, old and leather bonded book.
"What spell?" Buffy asked, raising her eyebrows.
"A location spell that I think is easy enough for me to do, but I will need something of theirs, though," Anya answered and Buffy furrowed her brow, thinking.
Then she lit up slightly.
"How would something one of them has touched be? Is that enough?" she asked and Anya, who had opened the book, looked over the spell quickly and then nodded.
"I can't see anything that says that it wouldn't be," she stated and Buffy turned, running to the door she shouted over her shoulder:
"I'll be right back!"
***
"You WHAT?" Warren shouted, his eyes bulging with rage as he stared at the member of the Trio who was the reason for that particular emotion manifesting itself on his face.
"I-I." Jonathan stuttered as Warren walked past Andrew, who was staring from one to the other, and approached the first.
"You went to the SUPERMARKET?" Warren now bellowed, disbelieving, as he grabbed Jonathan by the shirt and pushed him up against the closed door behind his back. "You went to the God damn STORE when you know that we need to keep a LOW PROFILE, a LOW PROFILE means staying the hell away from PUBLIC PLACES!" Warren now screamed, taking a step forward and grabbing a tight hold with both hands on Jonathan's sweater, pressing the latter up forcefully against the door.
Jonathan stared at his 'friend'. He had never seen the head of the Trio this mad before, and he sure didn't like it.
"We hadn't seen the Slayer for such a long time, I thought it'd be safe to just make a quick stop." he tried to defend himself, but Warren just grabbed a tighter hold on him.
"Well, ladida, I think someone just won the prize for Smallest Brain on the Planet!" Warren said, voice now lowered and trembling with anger. "Just 'cause we don't see her doesn't mean she's not HERE! And I guess you just found that out head on, didn't you?"
Jonathan gulped a little, nodding.
"I-I'm sorry!" he mumbled, eyes growing at the cold stare in Warren's eyes.
Warren took a step back, slowly releasing his grip and Jonathan was finally standing on the soles of his feet again, as apposed to his toes.
"Did you get the merchandise?" Warren now asked dryly and Jonathan nodded slowly, sticking a hand into one of his pants pockets and bringing out a small, brown parcel. "Good," Warren said with a glare at him, snatching it out of his palm and turning from him, walking over to a low work table where he carefully put it down.
"What is it?" Andrew asked, slightly glaring at Jonathan too and the latter ground his teeth, irritated.
He had started to get the feeling that the two other members of the Trio were grouping themselves against him a while back and the feeling just kept growing. Almost more than he detested Spike, for almost killing the precious Bubba Fett collectible triple-super-action figure when he needed the stupid chip in his head examined, he now despised the feeling of insecurity rooting itself in his chest. But if they thought that he was all oh-I-don't-see-I-don't-hear-I'm-a-dumb-ass-sidekick, then they were wrong.
He looked at Warren and then at Andrew who was walking up to the former to stand beside him, observing the small parcel with the exaggerated interest that was his way. Jonathan shook his head a little before his curiosity took over and he crossed the small room to join the others.
"What is it?" Andrew repeated and Warren sighed.
"Give me a sec here, okay?" he asked. "I need to concentrate or we'll all be small particles flying with the breeze in a moment or so, OKAY?"
Andrew raised his eyebrows.
"Okay, gees," he grumbled defensively and Warren drew a breath before reaching out his hands and carefully undoing the small string tied with a tiny bow around the parcel.
Jonathan couldn't help but start humming the James Bond theme and Warren stopped what he was doing, not looking at the other but not needing to, Jonathan caught himself and stopped.
"Sorry." he mumbled and Warren shook his head a little before proceeding with his task.
"D-did you say that this stuff in there could actually get us killed if you don't concentrate on what you're doing?" Andrew suddenly asked, the realization of the fact that he might be dead in a moment or so finally catching up with him and Warren exhaled deeply.
"Yes," he said, his eyes not leaving the parcel as he started to slowly and methodically undo the brown wrapping paper that was around it.
"But."
"Shut it," Warren interrupted as he carefully got the last side of the wrapping opened.
"What IS that?" Jonathan asked, his eyes enlarging as he stared at the pretty amulet imbedded in something black and fluffy, looking almost like velvet in texture but the body of it was closer to cotton.
The amulet was flat, round and looked like it was made of silver or some kind of blank metal. It had some sort of small scribbling on it, observing it closer it looked like a bunch of small and short lines put together in groups of various numbers and sizes. In the middle of it sat an azure blue stone that almost looked like it was glowing with a background light.
"Pretty," Andrew breathed and Warren nodded, starting to smile a little.
"This, my friends, is the stone of Torah," he now said, starting to rub his hands gleefully before drawing a small breath and reaching out a hand to very cautiously remove the small amulet from its nest.
"The stone of Torah," Andrew said in awe and then hesitantly adding the standard line: "WHAT'S 'the stone of Torah'?"
Warren smiled a little as he held the amulet up to the light.
"It's the amulet worn by one of the most powerful female demons of all time," he then answered Andrew. "She was incredibly deceitful and she loved nothing better than a good trick to play on her fellow demons and that is precisely the kind of skill we need for my newest plan to work."
"Okay." Jonathan mumbled, growing more and more insecure about the whole 'plan' thing that he hadn't heard one word about. "So.you wanna do an incantation or something?"
Warren smiled a little, letting his arms sink, seemingly content with his studies of the stone for the time being, and then he turned to Jonathan.
"Yes. You see, Torah's husband finally had enough and cursed her to be in THIS stone," he gestured to the amulet in his hands, "until the day someone foolish enough would release her and ask her one favor in return for having set her free," Warren explained, both Jonathan and Andrew now gaping at him.
"Well, we're not foolish enough to do THAT," Andrew stated, his voice wavering as he added: "Are we.?"
Warren smiled again and Andrew sighed.
"We are," he grumbled.
***
Buffy threw a stack of magazines on the table of the Magic Box and Anya looked up from her book, a little startled.
"Sorry," Buffy said at the expression on Anya's face, but the latter was already starting to relax, turning her eyes questioningly on the magazines. "Oh," Buffy said. "Jonathan held one of these when I saw him. I didn't know which one so I bought all of them. Can you.sense it or something?"
Anya smiled a little, shaking her head and getting to her feet.
"I'm not that kinda demon," she said and Buffy watched her walk to the counter where the book she had brought out earlier still lay. "But don't worry, we'll just have to go through them all."
An hour later Anya sighed deeply as she repeated the location spell for the third time over the last magazine and held the tip of a pencil against it before moving the pencil to a map of Sunnydale. She shook her head a little before looking up at Buffy whose brow was furrowed.
"I'm sorry," Anya said. "I don't know if it's me or the spell or if they have some sort of protection spell. I'm sorry, Buffy."
Buffy smiled a little, nodding when the sound of the door to the shop being flung open harshly made her twirl around and Anya look up, surprised.
Spike threw his smoking blanket off him with a huff and came scrambling down the stairs with a wild expression in his eyes before they landed on Buffy, who met his gaze alarmed.
"Slayer!" he exclaimed, the wildness making way for sudden fury. "Where the HELL have you been?!" he burst out and Buffy just stared at him.
"Here. We were."
"Shut up!" he interrupted, starting to walk back and forth like a caged animal in front of her, shaking his head before meeting her gaze again. "You said 'I'll be right back'! That was bloody two damn bloody hours ago!" he barked at her and her eyes grew a little. "You SHOULD have said, 'Oh and by the God damn way, hell, I'll stop by the bloody Magic Box and do some buggering spells with Anya'! Or maybe you're just reading sodding magazines and being all buggering female. Bloody hell!"
Buffy contained the smile threatening to come out as she raised her eyebrows a little.
"Spike," she said gently. "I'm sorry, I just."
"Yeah, you'd better be bloody sorry, Slayer," he interrupted again, almost louder than before as he stopped his pacing and glared at her. "Me and the Lil'Bit thought you'd run into some damn new bloody Big Bad and we were bloody worried about you and I bloody well searched the whole God damn town for your ass and you're HERE?"
Buffy's eyes widened even more at that.
"You were out in the sun just to."
"Bloody God damn right I was out in the frigging sun! And I KNOW you can take care of yourself, Slayer. But bloody hell! Why the hell didn't you call me? Why the HELL are you."
Buffy had silently walked up to him and now she interrupted him by reaching her arms up and wrapping them around his neck.
Spike drew a deep breath, trying to steady himself, and then he closed his eyes, putting his arms around her in a hard hug as well and bending down slightly to nestle his face at the side of her throat.
"I thought I'd lost you," he mumbled. "I was so bloody scared I'd lost you."
Anya stared at the two, suddenly remembering the look on Buffy's face earlier she couldn't help but swallow hard, the realization slowly coming to her as she observed the Slayer and the Vamp in quiet fascination.
"I'm sorry," Buffy said silently. "I should've called you. I'm sorry."
He pulled away a little, looking down at her face and she smiled slightly, he returned it, the warmth growing in his eyes and she felt the so familiar tingle in her stomach. God, it felt so good to have his arms around her. So strong, so safe.
"Don't ever do that again," he grumbled and she smiled wider, shaking her head a little.
"I promise I'll never put you in the situation where you can't even curse in an orderly fashion ever again," she stated and now he smirked slightly.
Then he grew serious, looking into her eyes so deep that she almost couldn't breathe and then she drew a small breath, moving forward slightly and kissing him softly.
Oh.my God, Anya thought to herself, biting her lower lip, her eyes growing. Oh.my God.
Spike parted his lips and kissed his Slayer with such a sudden passion that a low moan rose in her throat.
Oh my God, Anya now thought as she silently started moving towards the door leading into the sparring room. I think. she stopped, her head tilting slightly, then she started moving again. Yes, I think I'd better. she stopped once more, now shaking her head a little at the sight of the two. Yes, I DEFINITELY think I'd better leave them alone.for a moment.
The small bell above the door suddenly rang.
"Customer!" the vengeance demon exclaimed happily, running back the short way she had gotten and past the two lovers, who were seemingly not taking any notice of anything but the growing tension between their own little duo.
Anya stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes met the shocked gaze of Xander.
***
"This is big," Jonathan grumbled as he stared at the amulet, now placed on the floor in the middle of the small circle the Trio had made. "Warren, are you sure that we can handle her?"
Warren looked at him impatiently.
"Of course I'm sure," he answered. "Torah will OWE us this, she can't refuse us or the amulet will reclaim her."
Jonathan swallowed.
"This is kinda the same mood scene that they had that time in the X-Files when Mulder and Scully were working together on that case with."
"Andrew," Warren said. "If you don't stop that right now I will."
Andrew closed his mouth hard, pressing his lips together as his eyes grew a little.
"Good," Warren said, nodding. "Thank you. Now, back to the rather important matter of the in-can-ta-tion," he added, empathizing the last word with a meaningful look each to the two others who exchanged a glance before they turned back to him. "We need to hold hands and chant this sentence: Torah, powerful and mighty queen, we wish to make the unseen seen, for our wish one to us you'll give, so that you once again may live."
Jonathan furrowed his brow slightly at that.
"Did you make that up?" he asked and Warren stared at him, disbelieving. "What? I just thought it was kinda good, the whole 'once again may live' part especially."
"I read it in a book, okay?" Warren interrupted, reaching out and grabbing Andrew's hand.
Andrew tried to look casual at the touch.
"What-what book?" he asked and Warren turned to him as Jonathan reached out his hands to grab either one of the others.
"The handbook-of-the-stone-of-Torah, all right?" Warren answered and Andrew raised his eyebrows.
"Wow, they usually don't come with that," he stated and now both Jonathan and Warren stared at him. "What?!" he asked and they just shook their heads, all of them now turning their attention back on the amulet.
"Ready?" Warren asked.
"No," the two others answered simultaneously and he rolled his eyes before starting the chant, Andrew following and Jonathan then reluctantly falling in as well.
The soft light in the stone grew slightly brighter and then the stone itself looked like it turned liquid, a small twirl starting in the middle of it, moving slowly round and round.
The Trio stared at it in awe, mumbling the chant under their breath as the light grew stronger.
Then there was a sudden flash, which went straight up into the ceiling and the force from it made all three of the evokers tumble backwards, letting each others hands go and covering their eyes from the blaze of light.
Then everything went still, the room back in its normal lighting and the three slowly starting to move.
"Aooou," Andrew grumbled, sitting up and grabbing his left arm. "That hurt," he added as he stared at the amulet, the stone back to its former hard body.
Warren sat up as well, sighing, and Jonathan soon followed, holding a hand to his forehead.
"Guess it didn't work," he mumbled and Warren was about to open his mouth when they heard a scraping noise from above their heads.
They looked at each other before tilting their heads back.
The back of a slim and naked young body obviously belonging to a girl met their widening gaze and their mouths dropped open at the same time. Her hands were flat against the ceiling and she looked like she was standing on her knees, her long, black hair hanging down and then she suddenly turned partially around, revealing the face of an incredibly beautiful young woman.
Her eyes were closed but the Trio's eyes, well, except for Andrew's, weren't on her FACE, but slightly lower.
Then her eyes suddenly fluttered open, revealing two emerald green irises that seemed to glitter and twirl. But the fire in them was dead and cold as they looked at the three humans below. Then her mouth curled in a smile that was even more frightening than her appraising stare and her voice was melodic but hard when she said:
"One wish for releasing me from my prison is yours. Choose it wisely."
Then she turned back towards the ceiling and started crawling over it to the wall.
Jonathan and Warren were still staring at her and Andrew glared at them before clearing his throat.
"So, we need some clothes?"
"No," Torah said as she placed her feet on the floor and stood in all her breathtaking beauty before them for a moment, then she moved her left hand in a smooth gesture from her neck and down to her waist.
A dress slowly started to appear, covering her up and Warren and Jonathan sighed a little at that, Andrew getting to his feet, ignoring them.
"You can't wear that," Andrew stated and Torah turned her calm and chilly gaze his way.
"Oh?" she asked and he nodded.
"Yeah, we don't wear clothes like that," he said and then he remembered that first of all he was talking to a demon and an incredibly powerful one at that, second of all that it probably wasn't a very good idea to tell this powerful lady demon what to wear.
And in the light of this he sat down heavily again, taking his eyes from hers and swallowing hard.
"Well, then," she said, closing her eyes for a moment and then smiling that awful smile again before moving her hand in the same fashion as before, only now the dress crumbled up and turned into a tank top, a sweater and a pair of jeans. "There," she now said.
Now Warren seemed to get his head straight because he got to his feet, observing the demon carefully before saying:
"Our wish."
"Yes," she said slowly, nodding.
"We want you to destroy the Slayer," Warren said and Torah raised her eyebrows slightly.
"The Slayer," she said and Warren nodded. "The Vampire Slayer, you still have those?" she asked now and Warren's eyes grew slightly and then he nodded again.
Torah's eyes seemed to glimmer at this revelation and then she smiled again, Jonathan wishing silently that she would stop doing that.
"Well, that's a surprise. I thought they would have gone extinct by now."
"We WISH," Andrew said and then quieted down again, not looking at her.
"So it seems," she stated coolly and Warren smiled a little nervously.
"We want her out of the frigging way, and we've tried everything," he grumbled and Torah looked at him for a moment.
"And then you decided on me," she said, suddenly laughing a low laugh that sent chills up and down the threes' spines before she added: "I guess I was wrong, the human race did turn out to have a brain after all. But 'destroy' her.? Just like that, poof, destroyed, demolished?" she now asked, snapping her fingers a little and her eyes catching on a devilishly humorous glint.
"Yes," Warren said, nodding.
"No fun," Torah stated, shaking her head and slowly starting towards the human who froze on the spot, staring at her. "No fun at all," she added as she reached him, sliding her hands up his chest and moving closer as she smiled up at him.
"What then?" he asked breathlessly.
"Play," she said in a hushed voice, her eyes glittering pools of rainforrest green. "I want to play."
The Continuance
By Annie
06-02-2002
Buffy pushed the door to the Magic Box open impatiently before trampling inside, waving her plastic bag and looking more than annoyed she then clambered down the steps to come stand by the table where Anya was sitting reading through some newly arrived books on how-to spells.
Currently she was reading one with a title that read how-to-make-a-mortal- crawl-without-causing-any-serious-damage-to-his-limbs. Which fit her perfectly, even though she was only reading it per chance she ever needed it, she didn't want Xander's limbs to get deformed, she needed the tux to fit just right once their 'actual wedding' took place, far, far, far, far, far, FAR off in the future.
She looked up, surprised, as Buffy came to stand before her, and she shut the cover of the book with a thud, smiling innocently.
"Hi, Buffy," she said, the smile dying at the sight of the look on her friend's face. "Is anything wrong?"
"Yeah," Buffy nodded, putting the bag of groceries down on the table. "We need to have a meeting, NOW. I can't believe that Spike made me forget about all the stuff going on in my life! No, wait.that's what he does." she added the last part with a sudden smile and Anya stared at the Slayer, if she hadn't known any better she could have sworn the woman looked. "What I realized when I went to the frigging STORE, of all the places in the world to run into that looser, Jonathan, I mean. Well, what I realized was that we still haven't found the stupid Trio a la Nerds and this vanishing act they've got going is seriously starting to get on my nerves!"
Buffy was talking fast, pacing back and forth and Anya's eyes followed her keenly as she listened to the Slayer's statements and nodded her agreement mostly to herself since Buffy seemed very into what she was declaring.
"SO, we need to have a meeting, Tara needs to perform some kind of a searching spell or location spell or whatever the hell you call them and then we'll all just."
"Ah," Anya now interrupted, a little hesitantly and Buffy turned to her. "Well, I don't mean to cut your plan short but.Tara and Willow are still both at school, you know. And Xander is still working for at least an hour.It's Thursday," she finished and Buffy's shoulders slumped a little as she sighed.
"Of course it is," she mumbled, shaking her head.
"Do you have anything of theirs?" Anya now asked, getting off the chair she was on and walking up to the register.
"Of Xander's or Willow's?" Buffy asked, slightly confused and Anya smiled, shaking her head.
"No, of one of the.nerds'," she answered and Buffy raised her eyebrows a little, shaking her head.
"Why?" she asked walking over to Anya who now was behind the counter and kneeling, digging through a cabinet.
"Well," she answered, "we need something of theirs to perform this spell," she explained, bringing out a big, heavy, old and leather bonded book.
"What spell?" Buffy asked, raising her eyebrows.
"A location spell that I think is easy enough for me to do, but I will need something of theirs, though," Anya answered and Buffy furrowed her brow, thinking.
Then she lit up slightly.
"How would something one of them has touched be? Is that enough?" she asked and Anya, who had opened the book, looked over the spell quickly and then nodded.
"I can't see anything that says that it wouldn't be," she stated and Buffy turned, running to the door she shouted over her shoulder:
"I'll be right back!"
***
"You WHAT?" Warren shouted, his eyes bulging with rage as he stared at the member of the Trio who was the reason for that particular emotion manifesting itself on his face.
"I-I." Jonathan stuttered as Warren walked past Andrew, who was staring from one to the other, and approached the first.
"You went to the SUPERMARKET?" Warren now bellowed, disbelieving, as he grabbed Jonathan by the shirt and pushed him up against the closed door behind his back. "You went to the God damn STORE when you know that we need to keep a LOW PROFILE, a LOW PROFILE means staying the hell away from PUBLIC PLACES!" Warren now screamed, taking a step forward and grabbing a tight hold with both hands on Jonathan's sweater, pressing the latter up forcefully against the door.
Jonathan stared at his 'friend'. He had never seen the head of the Trio this mad before, and he sure didn't like it.
"We hadn't seen the Slayer for such a long time, I thought it'd be safe to just make a quick stop." he tried to defend himself, but Warren just grabbed a tighter hold on him.
"Well, ladida, I think someone just won the prize for Smallest Brain on the Planet!" Warren said, voice now lowered and trembling with anger. "Just 'cause we don't see her doesn't mean she's not HERE! And I guess you just found that out head on, didn't you?"
Jonathan gulped a little, nodding.
"I-I'm sorry!" he mumbled, eyes growing at the cold stare in Warren's eyes.
Warren took a step back, slowly releasing his grip and Jonathan was finally standing on the soles of his feet again, as apposed to his toes.
"Did you get the merchandise?" Warren now asked dryly and Jonathan nodded slowly, sticking a hand into one of his pants pockets and bringing out a small, brown parcel. "Good," Warren said with a glare at him, snatching it out of his palm and turning from him, walking over to a low work table where he carefully put it down.
"What is it?" Andrew asked, slightly glaring at Jonathan too and the latter ground his teeth, irritated.
He had started to get the feeling that the two other members of the Trio were grouping themselves against him a while back and the feeling just kept growing. Almost more than he detested Spike, for almost killing the precious Bubba Fett collectible triple-super-action figure when he needed the stupid chip in his head examined, he now despised the feeling of insecurity rooting itself in his chest. But if they thought that he was all oh-I-don't-see-I-don't-hear-I'm-a-dumb-ass-sidekick, then they were wrong.
He looked at Warren and then at Andrew who was walking up to the former to stand beside him, observing the small parcel with the exaggerated interest that was his way. Jonathan shook his head a little before his curiosity took over and he crossed the small room to join the others.
"What is it?" Andrew repeated and Warren sighed.
"Give me a sec here, okay?" he asked. "I need to concentrate or we'll all be small particles flying with the breeze in a moment or so, OKAY?"
Andrew raised his eyebrows.
"Okay, gees," he grumbled defensively and Warren drew a breath before reaching out his hands and carefully undoing the small string tied with a tiny bow around the parcel.
Jonathan couldn't help but start humming the James Bond theme and Warren stopped what he was doing, not looking at the other but not needing to, Jonathan caught himself and stopped.
"Sorry." he mumbled and Warren shook his head a little before proceeding with his task.
"D-did you say that this stuff in there could actually get us killed if you don't concentrate on what you're doing?" Andrew suddenly asked, the realization of the fact that he might be dead in a moment or so finally catching up with him and Warren exhaled deeply.
"Yes," he said, his eyes not leaving the parcel as he started to slowly and methodically undo the brown wrapping paper that was around it.
"But."
"Shut it," Warren interrupted as he carefully got the last side of the wrapping opened.
"What IS that?" Jonathan asked, his eyes enlarging as he stared at the pretty amulet imbedded in something black and fluffy, looking almost like velvet in texture but the body of it was closer to cotton.
The amulet was flat, round and looked like it was made of silver or some kind of blank metal. It had some sort of small scribbling on it, observing it closer it looked like a bunch of small and short lines put together in groups of various numbers and sizes. In the middle of it sat an azure blue stone that almost looked like it was glowing with a background light.
"Pretty," Andrew breathed and Warren nodded, starting to smile a little.
"This, my friends, is the stone of Torah," he now said, starting to rub his hands gleefully before drawing a small breath and reaching out a hand to very cautiously remove the small amulet from its nest.
"The stone of Torah," Andrew said in awe and then hesitantly adding the standard line: "WHAT'S 'the stone of Torah'?"
Warren smiled a little as he held the amulet up to the light.
"It's the amulet worn by one of the most powerful female demons of all time," he then answered Andrew. "She was incredibly deceitful and she loved nothing better than a good trick to play on her fellow demons and that is precisely the kind of skill we need for my newest plan to work."
"Okay." Jonathan mumbled, growing more and more insecure about the whole 'plan' thing that he hadn't heard one word about. "So.you wanna do an incantation or something?"
Warren smiled a little, letting his arms sink, seemingly content with his studies of the stone for the time being, and then he turned to Jonathan.
"Yes. You see, Torah's husband finally had enough and cursed her to be in THIS stone," he gestured to the amulet in his hands, "until the day someone foolish enough would release her and ask her one favor in return for having set her free," Warren explained, both Jonathan and Andrew now gaping at him.
"Well, we're not foolish enough to do THAT," Andrew stated, his voice wavering as he added: "Are we.?"
Warren smiled again and Andrew sighed.
"We are," he grumbled.
***
Buffy threw a stack of magazines on the table of the Magic Box and Anya looked up from her book, a little startled.
"Sorry," Buffy said at the expression on Anya's face, but the latter was already starting to relax, turning her eyes questioningly on the magazines. "Oh," Buffy said. "Jonathan held one of these when I saw him. I didn't know which one so I bought all of them. Can you.sense it or something?"
Anya smiled a little, shaking her head and getting to her feet.
"I'm not that kinda demon," she said and Buffy watched her walk to the counter where the book she had brought out earlier still lay. "But don't worry, we'll just have to go through them all."
An hour later Anya sighed deeply as she repeated the location spell for the third time over the last magazine and held the tip of a pencil against it before moving the pencil to a map of Sunnydale. She shook her head a little before looking up at Buffy whose brow was furrowed.
"I'm sorry," Anya said. "I don't know if it's me or the spell or if they have some sort of protection spell. I'm sorry, Buffy."
Buffy smiled a little, nodding when the sound of the door to the shop being flung open harshly made her twirl around and Anya look up, surprised.
Spike threw his smoking blanket off him with a huff and came scrambling down the stairs with a wild expression in his eyes before they landed on Buffy, who met his gaze alarmed.
"Slayer!" he exclaimed, the wildness making way for sudden fury. "Where the HELL have you been?!" he burst out and Buffy just stared at him.
"Here. We were."
"Shut up!" he interrupted, starting to walk back and forth like a caged animal in front of her, shaking his head before meeting her gaze again. "You said 'I'll be right back'! That was bloody two damn bloody hours ago!" he barked at her and her eyes grew a little. "You SHOULD have said, 'Oh and by the God damn way, hell, I'll stop by the bloody Magic Box and do some buggering spells with Anya'! Or maybe you're just reading sodding magazines and being all buggering female. Bloody hell!"
Buffy contained the smile threatening to come out as she raised her eyebrows a little.
"Spike," she said gently. "I'm sorry, I just."
"Yeah, you'd better be bloody sorry, Slayer," he interrupted again, almost louder than before as he stopped his pacing and glared at her. "Me and the Lil'Bit thought you'd run into some damn new bloody Big Bad and we were bloody worried about you and I bloody well searched the whole God damn town for your ass and you're HERE?"
Buffy's eyes widened even more at that.
"You were out in the sun just to."
"Bloody God damn right I was out in the frigging sun! And I KNOW you can take care of yourself, Slayer. But bloody hell! Why the hell didn't you call me? Why the HELL are you."
Buffy had silently walked up to him and now she interrupted him by reaching her arms up and wrapping them around his neck.
Spike drew a deep breath, trying to steady himself, and then he closed his eyes, putting his arms around her in a hard hug as well and bending down slightly to nestle his face at the side of her throat.
"I thought I'd lost you," he mumbled. "I was so bloody scared I'd lost you."
Anya stared at the two, suddenly remembering the look on Buffy's face earlier she couldn't help but swallow hard, the realization slowly coming to her as she observed the Slayer and the Vamp in quiet fascination.
"I'm sorry," Buffy said silently. "I should've called you. I'm sorry."
He pulled away a little, looking down at her face and she smiled slightly, he returned it, the warmth growing in his eyes and she felt the so familiar tingle in her stomach. God, it felt so good to have his arms around her. So strong, so safe.
"Don't ever do that again," he grumbled and she smiled wider, shaking her head a little.
"I promise I'll never put you in the situation where you can't even curse in an orderly fashion ever again," she stated and now he smirked slightly.
Then he grew serious, looking into her eyes so deep that she almost couldn't breathe and then she drew a small breath, moving forward slightly and kissing him softly.
Oh.my God, Anya thought to herself, biting her lower lip, her eyes growing. Oh.my God.
Spike parted his lips and kissed his Slayer with such a sudden passion that a low moan rose in her throat.
Oh my God, Anya now thought as she silently started moving towards the door leading into the sparring room. I think. she stopped, her head tilting slightly, then she started moving again. Yes, I think I'd better. she stopped once more, now shaking her head a little at the sight of the two. Yes, I DEFINITELY think I'd better leave them alone.for a moment.
The small bell above the door suddenly rang.
"Customer!" the vengeance demon exclaimed happily, running back the short way she had gotten and past the two lovers, who were seemingly not taking any notice of anything but the growing tension between their own little duo.
Anya stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes met the shocked gaze of Xander.
***
"This is big," Jonathan grumbled as he stared at the amulet, now placed on the floor in the middle of the small circle the Trio had made. "Warren, are you sure that we can handle her?"
Warren looked at him impatiently.
"Of course I'm sure," he answered. "Torah will OWE us this, she can't refuse us or the amulet will reclaim her."
Jonathan swallowed.
"This is kinda the same mood scene that they had that time in the X-Files when Mulder and Scully were working together on that case with."
"Andrew," Warren said. "If you don't stop that right now I will."
Andrew closed his mouth hard, pressing his lips together as his eyes grew a little.
"Good," Warren said, nodding. "Thank you. Now, back to the rather important matter of the in-can-ta-tion," he added, empathizing the last word with a meaningful look each to the two others who exchanged a glance before they turned back to him. "We need to hold hands and chant this sentence: Torah, powerful and mighty queen, we wish to make the unseen seen, for our wish one to us you'll give, so that you once again may live."
Jonathan furrowed his brow slightly at that.
"Did you make that up?" he asked and Warren stared at him, disbelieving. "What? I just thought it was kinda good, the whole 'once again may live' part especially."
"I read it in a book, okay?" Warren interrupted, reaching out and grabbing Andrew's hand.
Andrew tried to look casual at the touch.
"What-what book?" he asked and Warren turned to him as Jonathan reached out his hands to grab either one of the others.
"The handbook-of-the-stone-of-Torah, all right?" Warren answered and Andrew raised his eyebrows.
"Wow, they usually don't come with that," he stated and now both Jonathan and Warren stared at him. "What?!" he asked and they just shook their heads, all of them now turning their attention back on the amulet.
"Ready?" Warren asked.
"No," the two others answered simultaneously and he rolled his eyes before starting the chant, Andrew following and Jonathan then reluctantly falling in as well.
The soft light in the stone grew slightly brighter and then the stone itself looked like it turned liquid, a small twirl starting in the middle of it, moving slowly round and round.
The Trio stared at it in awe, mumbling the chant under their breath as the light grew stronger.
Then there was a sudden flash, which went straight up into the ceiling and the force from it made all three of the evokers tumble backwards, letting each others hands go and covering their eyes from the blaze of light.
Then everything went still, the room back in its normal lighting and the three slowly starting to move.
"Aooou," Andrew grumbled, sitting up and grabbing his left arm. "That hurt," he added as he stared at the amulet, the stone back to its former hard body.
Warren sat up as well, sighing, and Jonathan soon followed, holding a hand to his forehead.
"Guess it didn't work," he mumbled and Warren was about to open his mouth when they heard a scraping noise from above their heads.
They looked at each other before tilting their heads back.
The back of a slim and naked young body obviously belonging to a girl met their widening gaze and their mouths dropped open at the same time. Her hands were flat against the ceiling and she looked like she was standing on her knees, her long, black hair hanging down and then she suddenly turned partially around, revealing the face of an incredibly beautiful young woman.
Her eyes were closed but the Trio's eyes, well, except for Andrew's, weren't on her FACE, but slightly lower.
Then her eyes suddenly fluttered open, revealing two emerald green irises that seemed to glitter and twirl. But the fire in them was dead and cold as they looked at the three humans below. Then her mouth curled in a smile that was even more frightening than her appraising stare and her voice was melodic but hard when she said:
"One wish for releasing me from my prison is yours. Choose it wisely."
Then she turned back towards the ceiling and started crawling over it to the wall.
Jonathan and Warren were still staring at her and Andrew glared at them before clearing his throat.
"So, we need some clothes?"
"No," Torah said as she placed her feet on the floor and stood in all her breathtaking beauty before them for a moment, then she moved her left hand in a smooth gesture from her neck and down to her waist.
A dress slowly started to appear, covering her up and Warren and Jonathan sighed a little at that, Andrew getting to his feet, ignoring them.
"You can't wear that," Andrew stated and Torah turned her calm and chilly gaze his way.
"Oh?" she asked and he nodded.
"Yeah, we don't wear clothes like that," he said and then he remembered that first of all he was talking to a demon and an incredibly powerful one at that, second of all that it probably wasn't a very good idea to tell this powerful lady demon what to wear.
And in the light of this he sat down heavily again, taking his eyes from hers and swallowing hard.
"Well, then," she said, closing her eyes for a moment and then smiling that awful smile again before moving her hand in the same fashion as before, only now the dress crumbled up and turned into a tank top, a sweater and a pair of jeans. "There," she now said.
Now Warren seemed to get his head straight because he got to his feet, observing the demon carefully before saying:
"Our wish."
"Yes," she said slowly, nodding.
"We want you to destroy the Slayer," Warren said and Torah raised her eyebrows slightly.
"The Slayer," she said and Warren nodded. "The Vampire Slayer, you still have those?" she asked now and Warren's eyes grew slightly and then he nodded again.
Torah's eyes seemed to glimmer at this revelation and then she smiled again, Jonathan wishing silently that she would stop doing that.
"Well, that's a surprise. I thought they would have gone extinct by now."
"We WISH," Andrew said and then quieted down again, not looking at her.
"So it seems," she stated coolly and Warren smiled a little nervously.
"We want her out of the frigging way, and we've tried everything," he grumbled and Torah looked at him for a moment.
"And then you decided on me," she said, suddenly laughing a low laugh that sent chills up and down the threes' spines before she added: "I guess I was wrong, the human race did turn out to have a brain after all. But 'destroy' her.? Just like that, poof, destroyed, demolished?" she now asked, snapping her fingers a little and her eyes catching on a devilishly humorous glint.
"Yes," Warren said, nodding.
"No fun," Torah stated, shaking her head and slowly starting towards the human who froze on the spot, staring at her. "No fun at all," she added as she reached him, sliding her hands up his chest and moving closer as she smiled up at him.
"What then?" he asked breathlessly.
"Play," she said in a hushed voice, her eyes glittering pools of rainforrest green. "I want to play."